Stephen Hawking, perhaps the most famous scientist since Einstein, died on Wednesday at the age of 76. Here are his major scientific contributions

Remember the movie Interstellar? Many of its plotlines were directly based on the theories which Hawking and his colleagues developed in the 1960s and 70s. Dying at the age of 76, Stephen Hawking has left a black hole sized void in the field of cosmology. (Network18)

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Singularities in gravitational collapse | Proving first of many singularity (a region where space and time become redundant, e.g., core of a black hole) theorems was the first major contribution of Stephen Hawking in the field of cosmology. This theorem implied that space and time would indeed have had a beginning in a Big Bang event, and would end in black holes. (Reuters)

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Proof of ‘No-Hair Theorem’ | Hawking, along with his colleagues, provided a mathematical proof of John Wheeler's ‘No-Hair Theorem’ which says that any black hole is fully described by the three properties of mass, angular momentum and electric charge. They also proposed four laws of black hole mechanics, in the lines of the laws of thermodynamics. (Reuters)

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Hawking radiation | Along with Jacob Bekenstein, he postulated that a black hole is not just black and pulls everything but also emits sub-atomic particles known as Hawking radiation. They further stated that a black hole would eventually evaporate after it has emitted all particles. However, this resulted in a paradox known as ‘Hawking Paradox’, and eventually, after 30 years, in 2004, he retracted part of his claims. (Wikimedia Commons)

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The theory of everything | The ‘Hawking Radiation’ theory opened a way to unify quantum mechanics (theory of very small, i.e., atoms and molecules) and general relativity (theory of very large, i.e., planets and stuff). The resulting field of study is called ‘quantum gravity’ or as popularly known as the theory of everything, since it encapsulates everything in our universe. (Reuters)

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Other works | Apart from the above mentioned ground breaking research, Hawking has also worked on many theories and ongoing research topics which include cosmic inflation, wormholes (yes, the ones described in Interstellar), gravitational radiation, string theory, baby universe and multiverse, nature and structure of universe among other things. At least 230 academic papers penned by him are listed on Inspire HEP website. (illustration of a wormhole; Pixabay) (Information sourced from physicsoftheuniverse.com and hawking.org.uk)